Production of High-Transverse-Momentum Deuterons and Tritons at an Angle of 40$${{}^{\circ}}$$ in Proton–Nucleus Interactions at a Beam Energy of 50 GeV

Abstract

Data on the production of positively charged particles emitted at an angle of 40$${}^{\circ}$$ (in the laboratory frame) with transverse momenta of up to 2.7 GeV$$/c$$ in the interaction of 50-GeV$$/c$$ protons with carbon, aluminum, copper, and tungsten nuclear targets are presented. Particular attention is given to studying the production of light nuclear fragments, such as deuterons ($$d$$) and tritons ($$t$$). An analysis of data on $$d$$ and $$t$$ particles gives grounds to state that these fragments arise via a local mechanism of their direct knockout from nuclei. The results were obtained in the SPIN experiment at the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP, Protvino).

Identification of deuterons at BESIII*

“…Over the years, the coalescence model has become an effective tool for describing the production of particles and anti-particles [3]. The study of d production is crucial to verifying theoretical models [4] and provides a basis for understanding the particle production mechanism [5]. In the fields of astrophysics and cosmology, the study of processes involving cosmic anti-nuclei, such as anti-deuterons ( ), serves as a sensitive probe for dark matter annihilation and allows for indirect studies of dark matter [6,7].…”